Venezuela's social safety net is on track to fall apart entirely if someone doesn't attack corruption.
Though he's not on the ballot in Sunday's presidential election here in Venezuela, there's no doubt that the late president Hugo Chávez and his legacy are at the heart of the campaign to replace him.
At first glance, Chávez supporters certainly seem likely to back his handpicked successor, Nicolás Maduro, the former foreign minister, vice president and now acting president. Maduro has invoked the spirit of Chávez at every stop. Last week, he chirpily claimed that a talking bird appeared to him to tell him that Chávez's ghost had blessed his campaign.
But if Chávez's ghost were interested in choosing the best guarantor of chavismo, he might have done better to bless the opposition's candidate.